Music echoed out of the Bo Diddley Community Plaza on Friday, bouncing off the courthouse walls and sending a booming bass line through downtown Gainesville.
About 150 people swayed in the heavy summer air, vibrating with the chik-a chik-a upbeat of Wester Joseph’s guitar, and children did their own little jigs in the grass.
Joseph, frontman for Gainesville’s jam band 3rd Stone, looked out over the crowd as he remembered why his fans were there: to hear the music they had read about on Facebook.
Joseph, who posts between five and 10 status updates a week about his band, said the social networking website has served as an extension of the talk that circulates in the Gainesville music scene.
He said that fans talking about the band, “liking” the band on Facebook and shooting videos at shows helped to gather the crowd on Friday.
“It’s like a big tree,” he said of the band’s fanbase. “It’s very flattering, you know? Very cool.”
But Joseph said it wasn’t only Facebook that has helped the band’s city-wide recognition.
Although its been about five years since Gainesville turned its last band, Against Me!, to the world stage, he said, the town is still nurturing to musicians because it offers three things: cheap rent, hundreds of fellow musicians and make-your-own venues at house parties.
Unlike other Gainesville jam bands, Joseph said 3rd Stone is more ambitious. The members play for themselves rather than the jam genre, he said, which leads to sets of ambiguous songs without much practice.
“I don’t see a sense of urgency in the jam scene,” he said. “When we play, we’re trying to burn something to the ground. We just jam that shit and make a song right there.”
3rd Stone sets itself apart by staying true to its message of unity and using its connections to branch out of Gainesville, he said.
Joseph said he thinks bands are headed in a more cultural direction, noting the fame of Umoja Orchestra, an afro-pop band from Gainesville.
He said those bands naturally attract people from their own culture and gather more fans through Facebook.
Aside from local and online networking, Joseph’s advice to bands who want to become better known is this: “If you do something amazing, people are going to talk about it.”
